The Prospect of Hope | Erman Özbaşaran

Art On İstanbul is pleased to announce that it will be showing Erman Özbaşaran’s first solo exhibition entitled “The Prospect of Hope.” The exhibition features works that evoke human beings’ desire to construct and destroy. And through its portrayal of the chaos and the build-up that originate from this very process, which is cyclic in nature and which can be traced all the way back to the creation of human beings, the whole of these works brought together for this exhibition addresses the relations between human beings and things, and also between things, nature, history, and culture. The exhibition consists of miniature ink drawings made on rolling papers, canvases with painted pieces pasted on them, and mixed media works on paper. “The Prospect of Hope” will run from May 6th until June 10th at Art On Istanbul’s new space inside Hanif Binası.
In his works Erman Özbaşaran depicts, as parts of his miniatures, objects whose stains and lines are done away with, objects which are perhaps dilapidated, and demolished historic buildings and their architectural details that are about to vanish, all of these appearing as indistinct objects and shapes. Özbaşaran creates textures that are destined to “perish” as the backgrounds of his works, which give the impression of a plan and lead also to some kind of deformation. Lead color becomes more and more dominant as it makes its way patiently into the layers. We come across minuscule dots, drops and stains, all of which are meant to disturb the harmony of the elements making up the works. We are talking about a myriad of “rolling papers,” which are diligently aligned and arranged. Özbaşaran uses the rolling paper not as a discursive medium, but simply as a material. The prevalence of dark colors attest to a pessimist state of mind on part of the artist during the creation process. However, in his hands, thousands of rolling papers attain unity on the canvas.
Even though the highly-detailed layers of Özbaşaran’s works are suggestive of decay and deterioration, the artist actually wants us to keep hoping. In this exhibition, he creates his own “symbolic” war field, which lays bare the destruction caused by war. Özbaşaran constructs his paintings like miniature paintings. We, as spectators, realize that the dots, and the buildings depicted from a distorted perspective portray but the traces of bullets and bombs, i.e. the aftermath of war. As parts of nature, human beings spend their lives discovering their lives and manipulating them. Özbaşaran’s works are marked by the infinite desire to construct and destroy, a desire to recreate this cycle that owes its existence to the creation of human beings. And these works portray the chaos and build-up entailed by this process.